Wednesday, 19 February 2014

No Turning Back

The novel's title is
"Out of Bounds".

No it wasn't chosen at
random.

"Out of Bounds" reflects the crazy situation Kyle (my main
protagonist) is facing. It also implies that, in addition to the circumstances,
the characters are all acting beyond the ordinary limits. The killer, Ray, brings
in scenes of mayhem. The police detective has several dilemmas and must act out
of his capacity and jurisdiction. Finally, I suppose "Out of Bounds" leave
some room for guessing.

I've also reached a critical
publishing milestone.

I've submitted my work to
the publisher, made a few decisions on publishing outlets and prices (that
ultimately impacts the royalties I will hopefully perceive). It took some
thinking, I assure you.

Last week, I finalised my
manuscript and managed to survive a very tedious page layout process, making
sure the work fits Amazon's requirements. It was long and, as a novice, quite
challenging. Still, I got to grips with issues such as page size, margins,
paragraph indents. Margins were the main pain in the neck.

This week, I placed my
work on the Amazon's online DIY book submission service, Createspace. I also
submitted a pdf of the book cover, which was designed by a friend, Bertrand. I
got the front cover photo from Oscar, a photographer based near Barcelona,
Spain. And the back cover palm tree photo was sent to me by a talented amateur
called Kaytee. She's based in Michighan, USA.

The book is currently undergoing
review and I will soon be able to order a sample copy of the paperback. Once
that arrives in the post and I'm happy with it, I'll push the required buttons
on Createspace and the book will be available on Amazon.com. That's what will
happen in an ideal world, but I'm optimistic and not considering delays just
yet.

Of course, my chances of
success are undermined if I go the print route only. So I'm also actively
looking at ebook publishing and this will allow readers to obtain copies of the
book at a lower price.

I'm aiming for
compatability with Kindle and Kobo and various other ebook readers. I am
primarily submitting my work to a website called Smashwords, which offers
exposure with online retail platforms such as Barnes & Noble.